“Now what?” I asked her.
She tucked her blades away and went back to the bike. She lifted the seat and took out a length of rope. Silently, she tossed me one end, her meaning clear.
We made short work of tying him up even though I wasn’t sure it was the best idea.
“We should let him go,” I suggested, not wanting any more to do with him. We’d already been away from the caravan longer than we meant to, and still hadn’t found the source of the massacre, though I had a dark suspicion we were looking at it. I wasn’t about to say that to Pam. “We need to get back.”
Pam didn’t look at me when I spoke. Her eyes were trained on the ogre, and I saw something there, something that scared me. It was like a living mist billowing up from her soul, covering her in blackness that was not my girl.
“We’re not letting him go.” I almost didn’t recognize her voice, for the darkness in it. My heart raced. This was what she meant when she talked about the darkness. That she faced it every day. Not the darkness of the world, but whatever lurked inside her, the same thing that had pushed her to do wild and dangerous things before was still there.
And it was stronger, just as she was.
I couldn’t go back to Rylee now. Pam was fighting something she couldn’t win on her own. She still needed me.
I wasn’t going anywhere.
11
Pamela
The fact that we’d taken down an ogre together should have made me proud, but I only really saw that the ogre could be useful. He knew the area, he could help us navigate it.
“You can’t reason with ogres, you know that,” Alex said.
“What about Dox? He was one of Rylee’s closest friends and allies. And he was an ogre.”
“Yeah. Blue-skinned. Mild-tempered. Not gray. Gray is bad, if I recall.” He paced around. “Pam. Let’s just untie him and go. We can be gone before he comes around. He’s like a damn endangered species. I don’t think we should kill him.”
The thing was, I wanted to kill the gray-skinned ogre. The urge to slice him open and make him beg for mercy because he’d attacked us was barely in check.
I knew it was the magic in me, egging on that inclination to kill even when I didn’t need to. There was no reason for it, though, which is why I wanted to try to speak with him. I had to prove to myself that I could control the magic and the urges it produced in me.
It didn’t take long for him to come around. His eyelids flickered and he yawned like he was waking from a nap. Slowly, with a groan he tried to stretch, and quickly realized he couldn’t. We’d done a rather good job tying his big hands behind his back, and to his feet for good measure.
“What’s this?” he asked, his voice rather hoarse, the confusion on his face comical.
“An intervention,” I said simply.
You could kill him so fast, he wouldn’t even feel it. Take his strength and use it to heal that wound fully, I can show you how.
I rolled my shoulders, to shake the dark thoughts away. Because the idea that I could siphon the ogre’s strength was a siren’s call. To be stronger, that had been my goal my whole life.
I dropped to my knees next to him, and I felt Alex move uncomfortably behind me. He moved so he was near the ogre’s head, a blade drawn.
I focused on the gray eyes of the ogre. Gray like a distant storm cloud. “I knew an ogre once. One of the bravest souls I ever met. When the darkness came for this world, he fought beside us against the demons. You could never match him, nor take his place. But I’d welcome you to try.” The challenge hung in the air as the ogre watched me with those cloudy gray eyes. He was considering my words, not outright denying me.
That had to be a good sign.
In the silence, my hope grew. Killing him would be unnecessary. He would be an ally. I could see it all play out. The humans would hate it, but we’d be safer having an ogre on our side and likely he knew the area. Where we could find food.
The downside about hope was, once planted, it grew like a damned weed, spreading until you were filled with it. That was until someone ripped it out by the roots.
And that’s exactly what that piece of gray shit did.
He spit in my face. The saliva stank of garbage and it dripped from my nose as the rage rolled over me.
“Dox,” the ogre said. “I knew him. He was a weak outcast and fool. And now he’s dead.”
He is no loss. Take him, daughter. Take him and grow in strength.
I let the smile on my face spread slowly, and his eyes widened as did my lips. “Well, say hello to him for me, then.”
I pulled one of my blades and lifted it. My magic was unnecessary here despite its need to be free. The cost was too great. With him tied, my blades would do the trick. And the magic would still have its blood.
And his strength.
I snapped my arm forward, and the ogre jerked as if he’d twist away from me.
A hand caught my arm, the fingers digging into my skin. I whipped my head to the side.
“Alex, let me go.”
“No.” His skin was hot against mine and I tried to jerk away from him, but he held fast. The funny thing was, the longer he held on, the more the darkness receded, writhing as if it wanted nothing to do with him. And the clearer my head was, the less I wanted to kill the piece of shit in front of me.
Even if he had spit on me.
Alex held me a moment longer and then he tipped his head, silently beckoning me to follow him. He didn’t let my arm go and I didn’t fight him as we walked toward the bike, and he lowered his voice. “Think we should butcher him here? Everyone back at the caravan is hungry. He’d feed us at least a week.”
I nodded, surprised and even a little shocked at his practicality. This was not the direction I thought he’d take. And then he gave me a quick wink.
It took me a moment to catch on. Of course, Alex wasn’t that cruel. But he was smart. “Good idea. We want the meat to be fresh. How will we get him back? Drag him behind the bike?” I raised my voice loud enough for the ogre to hear us.
“If it’s fresh meat you’re after, I know where you can get some,” the ogre called.
“Is that so? Wouldn’t happen to be a little caravan about five miles from here, would it?” I challenged, in no mood to play games with him.
He licked his lips, and I wondered if he was responsible for the caravan massacre behind us. The thought lit my rage on fire once more, and I struggled to dampen the blaze. This anger had nothing to do with my magic and everything to do with justice.
We weren’t finished getting information out of him.
“No. Although that does sound like a treat.” He looked away from me, and I knew he was hiding something. Some important detail that would make me regret striking any kind of deal with him. But if he had food, he might be useful. For a length of time, anyway.
“What of this meat then? Why don’t you get it?” Alex asked. “You’re weak, or we wouldn’t have beaten you so easily.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but I said nothing.
The ogre rolled his head from side to side. “I have enough of my own.”
I hesitated at his comment. He had enough. I wanted badly to circle back to that. What exactly did he have in this barren land? It took all my willpower to move forward.
“And you can vouch for the food you’re talking about?” I asked.
“I can,” he answered. “I can show you the way. You’ll have to do the rest.”
I hesitated and looked at Alex. “What do you think?”
“Unless Mac finds something…” We’re screwed, those were the unspoken words. He turned his head back to the ogre. “What else is in this place?” Alex asked.
“Fruit, grains, anything you could possibly need. Blinking scads of it. More than you puny twerps could ever eat.”
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Roe.”
“Roe. I’m not sure if it’s nice to meet you quite yet,” I said.
&nb
sp; “Fair enough.” He didn’t struggle at his bonds while he watched me consider.
“So, what exactly is your offer here? You take me to this magical storehouse of food, and in exchange . . .”
“You let me go on my merry blooming way, maybe I’ll take a box or two of the goodies and such, but that’s it. If you know ogres, you know that once we’re beaten we don’t tend to fight back. I’m a veritable pussy cat now,” the ogre filled in and then smiled. Yeah, that look didn’t help me with the fangs on his upper teeth.
“I doubt that,” I muttered.
I looked at Alex again. Roe wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. His face remained frustratingly neutral. If he had an opinion on the matter, he was keeping it to himself, that was for sure. It was a horrible idea to bring Roe back to the caravan. No way should I consider it. But we needed food and he might be our only solid lead. Fuck, I hated adulting some days. There was no good choice here.
“How do I know you aren’t lying? How do I know the second I take you back to my caravan, you won’t lead us into some kind of trap?” The possibilities were endless. He could take us to Stefan’s gang, or whoever had bound the land. Which was worse?
Mischief danced in the ogre’s eyes. “I suppose you don’t, do you, young witch?”
The emphasis he placed on that last word got my wheels turning. Could I bind him to me? I thought back on how Sage, the caravan’s previous witch, and I had combined our magic to protect the troop. Would this be a similar usage with a totally different outcome? Could I force him to do what I wanted?
The thought gave me the shivers. You could do whatever you wanted with him, the magic whispered to me.
“Oh, just fuck off,” I said to the magic.
The ogre looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “I’ll do whatever you’re interested in, sweet cheeks. If you ask nice enough.”
I glared at him and he winked at me. Goddess, the very thought made me want to vomit.
“What are you thinking, Pam?” Alex asked.
“I’m thinking I want to throw up,” I said with a grimace.
“No, about the food.”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek a moment, working it through in my mind before I spoke.
“I might be able to bind him to me. Just as this land seems to be bound to someone. He’d be forced to do what I said then. We’d know if he was lying. Or if he was leading us into a trap.”
“Well, why not do that?” Alex asked as if it was the simplest, most obvious solution in the world. Which was exactly why I was leery of it.
But I couldn’t think of anything else, so I nodded. “Yes. I think I will. It’s the only choice we have.”
Sweat started down my spine immediately. Because I would have to tap into the magic in my blood.
I sat myself cross-legged in front of the ogre. “Piss off, witch! I didn’t agree to be bound to your scrawny ass!” He tried to scoot away from me, but he really couldn’t get very far. The more he struggled, the tighter his bonds got. Some knot Alex must have learned in his travels. I nodded approval at him while watching Roe struggle, and he beamed at me.
I turned my face to Alex. “Grab me, if it gets too . . . dark.”
“You got it.”
I closed my eyes and focused on using spirit. The darkness in me hissed and danced away as I threaded spirit through the crack in the bracelet. Minutes ticked by before I felt like there was enough in my hands in order to begin the delving. Grey ogres were said to have some magic. All I had to do was find it, and grab hold of it, and I’d be able to bind him.
“No. I didn’t agree to this,” Roe said, struggling harder against the ropes.
I cracked open an eye. “What’s wrong, Roe? You can’t possibly be scared of a scrawny witch like me.”
“Hell, yes, I’m scared. Ogres know better than to give their blinking flippity magic to a witch. Even one as little as you can be a compost heap load of trouble.”
I snorted, his language making me think of other ogres I’d known and their penchant for creative cussing. “Roe. You have no idea how big a load of trouble I can be.”
He fought harder, and whatever magic he had was either too small for him to use, or he hid it well. I was pretty sure it was the former. Any mage worth their salt would have had those ropes untied in seconds.
Roe was fighting as hard as he could to keep me from getting to it.
I took a deep breath and listened to the sound of the woods around me. Nothing moved except the wind in the leaves above us. No birds sang. No creatures stirred. I could feel Alex behind me, breathing slowly, watching me closely. I clung to his energy, knowing he would help me keep the darkness back while I worked.
If you embrace it, claiming him would be easy.
I shook my head and frowned. I would never embrace the magic. Not when it was so wild. It was more likely to kill the damned ogre than let him lead us to the food. Then we’d really be up shit creek without an oar in sight.
Alex must’ve seen my struggle. He walked closer to me until his leg was right next to me, almost touching me on my left. His presence quieted the darkness and I kept spooling spirit through me. This would take more time, and energy, but it would be worth it in the end. I took another deep breath, and focused on Alex’s presence, letting him be a light to chase back the dark.
I turned my attention to the ogre.
“You know, it’s not a store room, or warehouse,” the ogre said, his voice higher than normal, and laced with panic.
Again, I cracked an eye. “Oh no?” He was trying to distract me, but it didn’t matter. Either way, I would have the information I needed. If I didn’t have to peel it from his mind with spirit, all the better.
He bobbled his head. “It’s a ginormous garden. Where things grow without any real work. Cattle roam shitting all over the damn place, free like, ripe for the taking. They even have pigs rooting around causing all sorts of fucking havoc.”
“Pigs?” I quirked an eyebrow up. Pigs. When was the last time I had a slice of bacon? My mouth watered at the thought.
I looked at Alex and he swallowed hard. Clearly his mind went to the same place. Bacon. Sizzling, hot, salty, smoky bacon with just a hint of sweet, maybe maple.
“And how is it you know about this magical place?” I asked. It sounded too good to be true, which meant it probably was.
He clammed up. But it didn’t matter. “Fine. I’ll find out about it eventually.”
“I deal with many powerful people who wander into my territory. Maybe you are one of them. Maybe you aren’t. I make deals all the blinking buggering time.” His eyes were on mine. “Maybe I found out about it from one of them.”
“Did this powerful person who told you about a magical garden happen to massacre a caravan about five miles back?” I figured I’d cover two questions at one time.
He laughed. He actually laughed. “No, you little finking fool. That was me. They wandered onto my land. The price was paid. And that other crew was very grateful for the supplies I offered them. They compensated me quite nicely for the things I took from those squatters.”
“You killed them?” The rage was on me in an instant. The darkness coursing through my veins, beating against my skin, demanding to get out.
He looked at me with no remorse, not a single care in the world. “So? Some of them were a little tough, but there were some rather juicy morsels among them.”
Kill him. Make him pay the price. You are death, you are justice. Let us have him, Pamela.
I wanted to say yes. Every fiber of my being said yes. Do it. He deserves it. The only thing that stayed my hand was the small promise of food we so desperately needed. That my family needed.
Roe squinted at me. “Didn’t you see my warning? I marked my territory pretty damned clearly.”
Warning. The cross. Fuck, the language must’ve been ogre. “Unfortunately, no one except you reads ogre, you bloody fucking moron!”
I took a deep breath, the death magi
c bubbling just below my fingertips. He must’ve seen it too, because he squirmed in front of me. “What are we up against here, Roe? I assume we can’t just walk into that garden and ask nicely for a portion of it?”
“No, probably not. I just saw it from a distance.” He scooted back a few inches, tucking his legs away from me.
I had to make an impression on him, had to. “Goddess, Roe. What the fuck do you know? Because at this rate, it’s not enough to bother keeping you alive. Is that clear enough for you?”
He swallowed hard, his throat bobbing. “I know where it is. I know where there’s food that could feed you all for years. I can take you to the garden.”
I stared hard at him, wondering if he was lying. I shot Alex a look and he gave me the subtlest of nods. Roe was telling the truth, or the truth as far as he knew it.
And there was the rub. The risk-to-gain ratio was not in our favor unfortunately, but we didn’t have options at this point. We needed food.
I sighed and closed my eyes again. It wasn’t the best way forward, and not a path I wanted to take, but it was the only way I could see. Maybe Mac would come back with good news, but I already knew he wouldn’t. Whoever had blocked the land had done it to wear us down.
“Roe,” I said quietly. “If you help us, I will help you. I will let you go if you want, or I will do my best to keep you safe.”
“I don’t need a witch to keep me safe. I’ve had quite enough of you loopy fucking witches.”
His words made me think he’d had a run-in with Madeline. I stared hard at him.
“Ah, let me be crystal fucking clear, ogre. If you don’t help us, I’ll slice you up and feed my caravan off you for weeks. Tit for tat, wouldn’t you agree, Roe?” I let the darkness reach my eyes, and he swallowed hard again, but had nothing else to say.
He killed all those people. Showed them no mercy. Stole everything they had and sold it to a man who was trying to kill me and my caravan, better equipping him to do so. Roe deserved to die. The words tumbled over and over in my mind. But the promise of good food, not ogre meat, but fruit, vegetables, pigs; it was too much to pass up. The potential was too sweet.
Caravan Witch (Questing Witch Book 2) Page 13